Ear to the Ground: The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s “What You Isn’t”

It’s been a decade since Dig!—the documentary about the rivalry between the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It launched the latter into sublebrity status, and yet it’s still somewhat difficult to discern if they’re a cult or a band. Or both.

Regardless, their 14th full-length album, Revelation, still plays like an ongoing love letter to the ’60s. And that’s especially great for vintage-gear obsessives—drop the needle, close your eyes, and envision all those old guitars and amps set up in frontman Anton Newcombe’s Berlin studio.

Where much of Newcombe’s early works seemed to borrow the gravity boots of Spacemen 3, Revelation’s first single fast-forwards the idolatry a few years to conjure moments of early Spiritualized recordings. Here, the sparse song changes allow Newcombe to dynamically layer jangly strumming, controlled feedback, soulful horns, and antiquated organ tones over a rhythmic mantra. And when he’s not singing, the sonic portals transport our ears back to a time when Jason Pierce cranked his vibrato alongside Kate Radley’s droning black-and-orange Vox Continental.

All this may be more indicative of the tail end of the 20th century, but come on—the ’90s were just the ’60s turned upside-down anyway, man! brianjonestownmassacre.com

Though Eric Shea doesn't have a guitar to hide behind while fronting the punk 'n' roll quartet Hot Lunch, he wields a couple of Rickenbackers in the Byrds-inspired bands Mover and Sweet Chariot. When he's not jingling and/or jangling, Shea loves modifying budget guitars, nerding-out on tube amps, and writing about music. He currently writes for Pandora, and has also written for iTunes and Rhapsody, as well as more tangible periodicals like Thrasher, The San Francisco Chronicle, Raygun, BAM, and enough alt weeklies to line the birdcages of Sir Elton John's estate. (Photo by Josie Ramondetta)

Stay Connected

Sign up for our email newsletters!

Get the PG Apps

On PremierGuitar.com, "Sponsored Content" refers to articles, videos, or audio recordings that are produced or curated by an advertiser but that Premier Guitar is happy to share alongside our own editorial content due to the Sponsored Content’s educational, musical, or entertainment value. Sponsored Content is clearly labeled everywhere it appears, and Premier Guitar's editorial department has no involvement in its creation.